South Africa’s government has set aside R16.4 billion ($1.1 billion) over the medium term for South African Airways to repay guaranteed debt and to cover debt-service costs. The national treasury has disclosed the figure in its newly-released 2020 budget review. It states that the government also anticipates that additional funding will be required to cover restructuring costs, following SAA’s placement under business rescue. SAA has incurred net losses of more than R32 billion in the past decade, while those of regional operator SA Express – also under business rescue – have reached R1.2 billion over the same period. The government will need to “assess its appetite” for continued ownership of SA Express, says the review, given its “limited role” in the local aviation market. In an effort to progress towards fiscal sustainability the government has cut the baseline of budget expenditure by R156.1 billion over the next three years – the equivalent of about 1% of GDP per year – compared with 2019 budget projections. Increased support to financially-distressed state-owned companies – including SAA and energy firm Eskom – has increased by R60.1 billion over the medium term, it says, adding to the government’s spending pressures. The government has set aside R16.4 billion for SAA to repay guaranteed debt and interest costs over the next three years. “Costs of this adjustment are still being finalised, and will be financed from existing provisional allocations for state-owned companies,” says the budget review. It points out that the market attaches increased risk to state-owned companies, which are paying “substantially more” to borrow – with the highest cost for guaranteed debt. SAA’s borrowing incurs nearly twice the interest rate of government, the review adds.

Source: Cirium

New routes between mainland China and Europe are at risk as the coronavirus outbreak batters air traffic. Privately owned Juneyao Air has opted to postpone the launch of three new services from Shanghai Pudong to Dublin, Manchester and Reykjavik. These are to be operated as multi-leg, fifth-freedom routes, via Helsinki. "With careful consideration, Juneyao Air has decided to postpone the starting date for [the three] new services until further notice," the carrier says in a statement on its official Facebook page. "This has been a very hard decision for us, as we were excited at the prospect of strengthening the links between Europe and China." Cirium schedules data shows that over the next few months, two other Chinese carriers are planning to launch multi-leg flights that connect lesser-known Chinese cities with major airports in the country and onward European destinations.In March, Beijing Capital Airlines is scheduled to launch Hangzhou-Madrid via Chengdu. China Eastern is meanwhile planning to fly from Pudong to St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport in April and Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport in June, via Xi'an in both cases.

Source: Cirium

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is investigating a landing gear issue and fire involving a Jazz Aviation turboprop in Montreal on 25 February. Jazz say no passengers or crew were injured in the incident, which occured after landing and involved a Jazz De Havilland of Canada Dash 8-300 arriving from Ottawa, according to FlightStats.com. The TSB is deploying an investigator following “an incident during the taxi phase of an Air Canada aircraft after landing”, the agency says. The TSB provides no additional details and did not respond immediately to requests for more information. Montreal-Trudeau airport also did not immediately respond to an inquiry. In a statement, Halifax-based Jazz confirms the incident involved flight 8970, which was carrying 48 passengers and three crew. “After a normal landing and while taxiing at Montreal international airport, the aircraft operating Air Canada Express flight AC8970 experienced an issue with the right landing gear. As per our standard operational procedures the crew requested emergency vehicles meet the flight, as a precautionary measure – the safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority,” Jazz says. “The fire department inspected and cleared the aircraft and the passengers deplaned normally at the gate. Our maintenance personnel will conduct a thorough inspection of the aircraft to determine the cause and proceed with the necessary repairs.” “Flames were seen on taxiing to the gate and were quickly extinguished. There were no injuries,” Jazz adds. The aircraft, registration C-GABO, touched down in Montreal at 05:58 local time on 25 February, says FlightStats.com. That aircraft was manufactured in 1990 and had logged 63,181h and 80,244 cycles as of September 2019, according to Cirium fleet data.

Source: Cirium